Vikings Tennis Drops Opener to Great Neck South

As the sun began to set Monday evening, the Schreiber boys varsity tennis team found itself engaged in the tightest of battles with the Great Neck South Rebels.

With the Vikings holding onto three match wins and the Rebels picking up their third win in the fourth doubles match, all eyes turned to the third doubles match that entered its third and final set.

With teammates looking on, Jared Alper and Michael Seiden fought from dropping the first three games of the final set to take a 5-4 lead only to drop the final three games — and the match.

"Third doubles, I thought, played well together," coach Melissa Koulouris said after the match. "They played at the net, kept it going."

The Rebels improved to 1-1 while the Vikings fell to 0-1 in their first match in Conference I.

Schreiber took a quick lead over Great Neck South as top singles player junior Jason Hubsher defeated Brandon Lum in straight sets — 6-0, 7-5.

Eighth-grader Ben Rosen followed with a victory in his varsity debut for the Vikings as he ripped backhand winners down the line and moved his opponent Daniel Wong around the baseline throughout the match.

"We had some long points. I tried to win all of them, but we were moving each other around a lot," Rosen said. "I tried to mix it up a bit by hitting some angles and hitting down the line."

Rosen felt first-match jitters as he got on the court, he said, but quickly settled in to win — 6-2, 7-6 (7-1). Rosen said he made some mistakes in the second set that let Wong get back in the match, but by the time the tiebreaker came around Rosen took control.

"I think he was feeling the pressure, and I got a little lucky," Rosen said.

Schreiber will look to rebound from the loss on Wednesday as they travel to Jericho High School.

"It's hard to start off losing, but it's a tougher league," Koulouris said.

Match Results:

• First singles: Jason Hubsher (Port Washington) def. Brandon Lum (Great Neck South) — 6-0, 7-5
• Second singles: Daniel Grunberger (Great Neck South) def. Sander Brenner (Port Washington) — 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
• Third singles: Ben Rosen (Port Washington) def. Daniel Wong (Great Neck South) — 6-2, 7-6 (7-1)
• First doubles: Matt Kellenberg/Dan Lee (Port Washington) def. Jordan Marzouk/Gabe Stine (Great Neck South) — 6-2, 6-1
• Second doubles: Brian Miranda/Angad Ishar (Great Neck South) def. Ben Spivack/Luke Record (Port Washington) — 6-3, 6-4
• Third doubles: Cooper Spector/Raymond Zhao (Great Neck South) def. Michael Seiden/Jared Alper (Port Washington) — 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
• Fourth doubles: Kevin Miranda/Mike West (Great Neck South) def. Jake Yedid/Drew Feldman (Port Washington) — 7-5, 6-4